The Nakuru County Department of Health Services has issued a detailed statement addressing recent public concerns and circulating social media images regarding congestion at the Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby Unit within the Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital (Nakuru Level 5).

The statement, released by CECM for Health Services Roselyn Mungai, dated December 8, 2025, comes a few days after photos of women sleeping in crowded beds at the wing went viral as locals blasted the department of health for inefficiency in the delivery of health services at the biggest referral facility in the central rift.

The Department explained that the primary cause of congestion is the public seeking non-referral, primary healthcare at the Level 5 facility, which is intended for complex and referral cases.

She said that most of the women are shying off from the health facilities at levels 2-4 and thus streaming to the referral facility, overstretching its capacity to hold 250 women.

“This is a level five facility, level five facilities don’t provide primary healthcare service, yet many mothers choose to come directly to mother and baby rather than seek care at levels 2-4 where primary care is intended”, she said.

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CECM Mungai also highlighted how payment issues contribute to the visual congestion. She noted that many mothers attending the Mother and Baby Unit are not fully up-to-date with their SHA premiums, leading to delays in discharge.

“A significant number of mothers who continue to attend Mother and Baby are not entirely up to date on SHA. Had they delivered at Levels 2-4, this payment issue would not have arisen,” Mungai stated.

She further explained that while the discharge process is ongoing, “the mothers must remain somewhere, either sitting or sleeping on beds. This is precisely how the photos that later go viral are captured,” she noted.

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The Department is actively working to establish independent boarding facilities for NBU mothers and developing a secure luggage storage solution to alleviate these issues

“This facility delivers over 1,000 babies a month and this means the capacity to house more women beyond the capacity is overstretched but we are working on solutions to have a separate newborn unit to care for women with newborns”, she added.

Health CS Aden Duale in a Past Ministry of Health Event. PHOTO/ Ministry of Health.